Camponotini ant species have their own distinct microbiomes

Camponotini ant species have their own distinct microbiomes and the bacteria may also vary by developmental stage, according to a study published November 22, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Manuela Oliveira Ramalho ...

Bacterial diversity's shelf life longer than previously expected

University of Montana scientists have published a study in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution showing that bacterial diversity may stick around millions of years longer than previously thought. The researchers, in UM's ...

Microbiome composition found to influence depression

Our microbiome, the billions of microorganisms that live in and on our bodies, control many important bodily functions, including those in our brain. Recent research by Amsterdam UMC, the University of Amsterdam and Erasmus ...

Plant perfumes woo beneficial bugs

Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have discovered that maize crops emit chemical signals which attract growth-promoting microbes to live amongst their roots. This is the ...

Engineered bacteria can make the ultimate sacrifice

Scientists have engineered bacteria that are capable of sacrificing themselves for the good of the bacterial population. These altruistically inclined bacteria, which are described online in the journal Molecular Systems ...

Spelling mutations and evolutionary advantages

DNA codes carrying instructions for creating a protein can sometimes be 'spelt' differently, although they specify the exact same sequence information to create that protein. Scientists from the National Centre for Biological ...

Viruses are both the villains and heroes of life as we know it

Viruses have a bad reputation. They are responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic and a long list of maladies that have plagued humanity since time immemorial. Is there anything to celebrate about them?

Bacteria are individualists

No two bacteria are identical – even when they are genetically the same. A new study from researchers from Eawag, ETH Zurich, EPFL Lausanne, and the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen reveals the conditions ...

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